And with that, the 2011-12 film awards season has officially come to a close. It’s been a fun one: wild to predict early on, things becoming clearer as the Oscars draw nearer, and, then, a couple of Oscar surprises to throw us for a loop.

There was the first award of the night, Cinematography, which went to Hugo‘s Rob Richardson. Almost everyone had Emmanuel Lubezki winning his first Oscar trophy for his work on The Tree of Life, including me, but the Academy voted otherwise. And with Hugo also taking Art Direction, it seemed like it could be a pretty big night for the Scorsese flick.

And it was: 5 Oscars in all, including Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects — another surprise — to go along with the two mentioned above.

Hugo‘s Visual Effects win kept the streak alive — no Best Picture nominee has ever lost the Visual Effects Oscar when up against a non-Best Picture nominee since the award has first handed out in 1977. I, along with many others, thought Rise of the Planet of the Apes would rightfully go home with this one. Guess we were wrong.

The documentary categories were tough to pick this year; I had Undefeated and Saving Face as my number two options in each category. Guess I should have went with those. However, I did correctly predict the other two shorts, so that makes me feel a bit better, ego-wise.

The biggest surprise — and most welcome one — of the night had to be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo‘s win for Best Film Editing. This marks the second year in a row that Fincher-faithfuls Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall have won the award, winning last year for The Social Network. Everyone figured, what with its close ties to Best Picture, that The Artist had this one wrapped up, but it seems that the Academy holds favor for Fincher’s crew.

And of course, my Oscar reactions wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Meryl Streep’s win — her third Oscar in 17 tries — which I felt to be a bit of a sham, as I was one of those who breathed that sigh of “oh Lord” as she so described in her speech. This award was Davis’s to win. It was much more deserved, and not to mention that The Help had the momentum over The Iron Lady as the superior film.

But, in the end, it was The Iron Lady, not The Help, that ended up as the third multiple winner of the night, alongside Hugo and The Artist, which tied for the most awards but had unquestionably the best haul — Best Costume Design, Best Score, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture.

Also, most importantly, I won my two-man Oscar pool against my freshman-year roommate “Nick.” Free Chipotle burrito, you are going to taste delicious.